Game Profile

So who's your favourite Nintendo character of all time? Mario? Link? Samus Aran? Maybe Pikachu? All of these and more star in Super Smash Bros. – a riotous 3D fighting game that pits the skills of your best-loved characters against each other in thrilling tournament match-ups!

The aim of the game is simple: smash your opponents off the stage as often as possible. Each arena is based on a familiar Nintendo game - complete with classic music, sounds and power-ups! And each character has their own trademark special moves and weapons, such as Link’s Master Sword swipe, Yoshi’s tongue slurp or Fox McCloud’s trusty Blaster.

If you’re a fan of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Wii or Super Smash Bros. Melee for Nintendo GameCube, then prepare to experience the original Nintendo 64 classic that started it all!

Game Review

Review

Does the original Super Smash Bros. still knock out the competition these days?

Nintendo's most popular (and only!) fighting franchise started off quite strangely - in fact, it originally didn't even have any existing Nintendo characters! Created by Kirby Creator Masahiro Sakurai of HAL Laboratory and Satoru Iwata, the game was...

super smaaaaaaashhh brotheeeeeerssshow it all started comes on VC, this will be great, people soon will be able to see how SSBM and SSBB got so big there's 1 stage i'd like to have in SSBB from here, thats dreamlandbtw, in this game, SSB, they made a mix called falcon punch kirby mix, on youtube

when i got this game first, i got those hidden characters very fastand here i was pretty good at c. falcon

I don't see the point in downloading this when I already have Brawl... I'm all for the nostalgia but this series hasn't moved forward very much since the original so Brawl is really the same game with bells and whistles..

I have actually been longing to play this one... The other two incarnations have brought all these bells and whistles, but without changing it much, for better or for worse. It'll be nice to get back to basics

This game has not aged very well at all. Have any of you played it recently? It's just terrible and with Melee and Brawl being more updates then sequels, there is no reason to ever play this game again.

With that logic, why play Super Mario Bros. when there's Super Mario Bros. 3? Why play Street Fighter 2 when Street Fighter 3 is still on the market? If you ask me, just because the later games in the series are better doesn't mean that the original can't still be fun.

OMG does NOJ know it's Fans or what lol!!!!! I mean come on Japanese Wii Console owners will be getting it right away i bet.

As for me i know very well that i am going to get it.I have an un used Wii Points Card just laying around just waiting for the day NOA gets off of their rump and releases it here in USA.This is making me wish i had a Japanese Wii right now.That or a Japanese Friend who has a Japanese Wii lol.

This is the news I've been waiting for! Hopefully it comes out in the US and the UK soon. Smash Bros. was such a huge hit back in the day and exceeded everyone's expectations. I know it pales in comparison to Brawl and especially Melee on a technical standpoint, but it is one of my favorite games.

I always found it fun to play as Kirby with beam swords on at a high frequency... I used to "juggle" my opponents by kicking them around and throwing swords at them from a distance. good times...

Out of the N64, all but one of these titles has been released: Smash Bros. I didn't include Mario Party due to the fact that Nintendo has released them with basically identical gameplay eight times. Really, everything on my hit list has been released in all regions except SMK and SMW2, because Nintendo for some reason has not taken the effort to biuld a working Wii-mulator for the SNES enhancement chips. Those games on my list, plus the three modern Mario adventures: Sunshine (GC), Galaxy (Wii), and New Mario Bros (DS) - also Thousand Year Door (GC) and Super Paper Mario (Wii) if you also like RPGs - are games that you have no excuse not to have ever played if you call yourself a diehard mario fan.

So yeah, diggity - that's one more gem I'll be eventually adding to my VC collection

Melee was okay but I didn't think it was all that great. It kinda got boring after a while but I still liked it. I love Brawl but I don't touch it as much as I want to. SSB is one of my favorites in the series, though.

Classic Race to the Finish bring it on now NOA!!!! Sure The classic Target Test is great too but the Classic Race to the Finish was just better then Melees was because on Melee's you could only get to the very very very end with a character like Kirby.But with SSB you have a chance at getting to the very end with each of the SSB Characters.

@ MickeymacThat comparison doesn't work; Mario and Mario 3 are completely different games. The only thing similar are the most basic things like Mario, koopas, and Goombas are in it, everything else has completely changed from level layout to bosses to powerups. Street Fighter II and 3 don't apply because of their different roster of fighters. Smash Bros kept the same list and added to it (with the loss of MewTwo, but he sucked). However, there is no reason to play the first version of Street Fighter II anymore because the later versions of that game are smoother, faster and have different characters (to be fair, I never played too much Street Fighter though).

Another problem with the original Smash Bros is that it boasts some of the worst graphics on the N64. I mean compare Mario in Smash Bros to that of Mario 64 and there is a big difference. You can hardly make out what’s going on anymore. Personally I feel that 2D games have aged better then early 3D games in this respect. For instance, in the original Mario, the game is so bizarre that the graphics have become stylized because of the lack of processing power. This level of stylization does not apply to early 3D games, either they look like what they are supposed to or they don’t. Bad 3D graphics amount to fuzzy polygons; in contrast, making Mario on the NES required him to look the way he did because they couldn’t make a realistic looking man with the systems power.

Whatever, man. As far as I see it, if you played the game back then and enjoyed, can't see what stoppin' ya from enjoyin' it now. I mean, if the series has stayed pretty much the same, and it's stiil fun, so's the original. Even after playin' Melee and Brawl, I still go back to this one, and sill as fun as ever, even without the trimmings.

But it's your choice, Mac, and I ain't here to change it. You don't want it, fine by me. Just hope you know what you're missin' out on.

@BJ

Same here, man, same here. Don't play Brawl as much as I'd like, but the original's still my fave. One of the reasons why I refuse to give up my N64.

@Mickeymac. Would you wanna play Mario Kart 64 instead of Mario Kart Wii or DS? Or what about Virtua Fighter instead of Virtua Fighter 5?

I agree with Hilanderous. I played this at school with some fellow classmates, and I don't think this game has really aged well at all. It isn't bad, and it was nice to see some of the old stages that weren't in Melee, but they weren't nearly as exciting as the ones in the predecessors. The character roster is very slim, especially when you compare it to Brawl's whopping 35-chara roster. Having only classic mode and no Adventure or All-Star mode is also pretty bogus.

That being said, I'm still glad to see this game appear on VC finally. A new N64 game that doesn't suck is always welcome. Plus, having the entire series on your Wii is pretty awesome.

@Hilanderous. They got rid of other characters besides Mewtwo, but they were basically palette swaps of other characters. I wish they kept him in Brawl though. He was a terrible Melee character, but in Brawl, they could've made him the badass he should've been.

@Mr. CheezSorry to interfere but I really need to answer your first question, I absolutely prefer to play MK64 than MK Wii or DS. That something is new not always means you're gonna like it more than the old.

SSB is simpler than it's predecessors, I like that, some times I get tired of all those options and screens on Brawl when I only want a simple fight with a friend; each Smash Bros. game has it's own style, and the first one is great to play even now.

there's 1 reason why i'd play this game, even with brawlthats.... some nice stagestoo bad i cant see good ssb stages in ssbbsaffron city, dreamland... those were 2 nice ones to play ondreamland came back in ssbm, but after that it got lost, while imo its the best kirby stage hyrule castle was fun cuz of the tornadopeach castle is somewhat annoying but good enough to fight itwell, those stages in brawl would be cool, but we cant get it, so use stage builder

must have for those who got sick of bigger stages and strong hits of ssbm and ssbb i give it 5/5

No, but that's because I hate Mario Kart, although I did hate MK64 less than MKWii, so if I had to play one, MK64 would be it. I also hate Virtua Fighter, although I did hate Virtua Fighter 1 less than Virtua Fighter 5, as its age actually makes the characters seem less pathetic.

@HilanderousThis game has not aged very well at all. Have any of you played it recently? It's just terrible and with Melee and Brawl being more updates then sequels, there is no reason to ever play this game again.

Yeah I played it yesterday, it rocked HARD. It's faster than brawl, you can combo, it's more accessable than Melee, there arn't uber characters that destroy the rest of the cast with ease. Brawl was more or a Wiidate (i.e. better graphics much less depth)

If you don't want SSB then don't get it.But there are those who want all 3 for if not the Characters the Stages like SSB Hyrule Castle my favorite or the Target Test and even the Race to the Finish.

Overall if you liked Brawl and Melee better fine but for others SSB is and most likely will always be the best.For me i like all 3 for different reasons.Reason 1 the stages, Reason 2 no copied Movesets that i can remember, and Reason 3 the Game's Intro alone is great.So get it or don't and leave it at that.

I wish this game could come to the Us soon. I haven't played in like forever! But all in all this game is 5 out of 5 stars, and it even introduced Earthbound to all of us who didn't know, "Who the hell is Ness?" I knew who he was when i was little b/c my parents bought me this game and i played and beat it over and over again. I was so freaked when I unlocked Ness, with Pikachu. So my two best were those 2, the funny part was that I didn't know who was Kirby till Kirby64! lol btw i downloaded that and beat that hell out of it! lol!

I enjoyed the first Super Smash Bros., but I feel that with each entry, the series evolves into something better. Though if this game were released in North America, I would surely purchase it. Unlocking the secret characters was always fun for me.

"AlexSays: No it wasn't.
Brawl just had things called jumps in the form of hops.
You can press the jump button and call it a hop if you like."

brawl WAS hopless. i got boring after like 5 mins, but the 1 on n64 never gets boring. the whole concept of brawl on wii was poo.
melee was heaps good equal to SSB n64 but brawl was the crapest game in the series by far
it wasnt even fun

@IvanYou should really hate Brawl to take AlexSays joke about your spell error and take it as a defence for the game: still, come on man did you really need to use the word s**t? if you got bored with the game what a shame, but in fact is a well programmed game that many people enjoy, including me. I don't understand why people insult someone's hard work just because they didn't like it, Brawl is not a bad game, is a matter of taste, you just hate it.

Brawl was easily one of Nintendo's best titles on any console, let alone out of the Super Smash Bros. series. But I guess you can't please everyone.

Not even close, most Zeldas, main series Marios, and Metroids were way better, as were the first two Smash Bros.Brawl's gameplay was a step backwards from Melee, the only thing it had to make up for it was online.

The only tolerable Zelda title was Twilight Princess, Metroid is simply a waste of time, and Mario continues to disappoint me. Melee was Brawl's prototype, and the first Smash Bros. was Melee's. The only problem I had with Brawl were the Event Matches. They weren't as creative as Melee's.

^"The only tolerable Zelda title was Twilight Princess, Metroid is simply a waste of time, and Mario continues to disappoint me."YOU sir, have the strangest opinion I've seen in a while now. How can not like Zelda, Metroid, or Mario?!?

@Digiki"Brawl's gameplay was a step backwards from Melee, the only thing it had to make up for it was online."Wait, what? Melee was too fast paced and was hard not to just button-mash, and the online was probably the worst part of the game because of its lag in almost every game.

Well now don't get me wrong. I liked Twilight Princess (I just used the world "tolerable" for dramatic effect), and I love Super Mario 64. It's just the new Mario titles I don't care for. But as for the rest of the Zelda series, and Metroid, no, I don't like it. Now, the F-Zero series, that's different. I love those games, especially F-Zero X.

Let me elaborate, Ricardo91. I don’t like certain parts of the Metroid, Mario, or Zelda series. Metroid and Zelda, too me, are nigh impossible to enjoy because I can’t stand playing them. But I usually love the stories so much, I yield and buy the games just to experience it firsthand. Now Mario on the other hand, always has terrible stories (save for the RPG series), but they are mostly fun to play. Just lately, they’ve been slipping (I despise the control gimmicks in Sunshine or Galaxy). I guess I just wish they’d make another Super Mario 64. And I really did, honestly and truly, enjoy Twilight Princess (especially the climatic four-part finale against Ganondorf).

Hey there, I'm very glad that me and my brother's Nintendo 64 -- and the first Smash Bros. -- still work very well. Luckily for that reason alone, I won't need to buy it again! Even though we got the original one some years after it officially came out, I remember so much with this game.

On another note, I don’t see why Smash Bros. Brawl is always said, by at least two or more people on message boards, to be less ‘deep’ than Melee or the first one. Or that one can’t ‘combo’ in Smash Bros. Brawl. These complaints, and the outright walloping that I’ve sometimes come across, baffle me. Once in a while, such message-board posters even manage to end their harangues (and even diatribe-like remarks) in saying more or less ‘a great game this, great game.’

@NintendorkYou'll get a lot farther button mashing in brawl than you will in melee.

@ShinnokThe games aren't prototypes for the next one at all, the new ones are just sequels.

@VirtualConsoleGuestDon't get me wrong Brawl rocks, but if Melee and the original had online I would most definately play them more than Brawl. It just lacks so much depth compared to Melee, its deeper than the first although the depth is a trade-off since it lost L-canceling, and defense is usually much better off an option than offence in brawl, off course SSB had too much hitstun, but I'd rather have explosive offence than, too effective defence and a general lack of worthwhile punishments when your opponent makes a mistake.

"The original form of something, which has the essential features and is the model for subsequent forms." That's the definition of "Prototype" off of my computer's dictionary.

Think of Super Smash Bros. (the prototype for the rest of the series) as a template. It was great for a first try, but they needed to expand it. In Melee, they did just that. Then, in Brawl, history repeated itself, and Smash Bros. evolved once more.

Melee was a great game, no doubt about it. But when compared to Brawl, so many flaws come to light. Clone characters such as Ganondorf and Falco had all the same animations as their counterparts (Captain Falcon and Fox, respectively). But in Brawl, that was fixed. The soundtrack in Melee was so wimpy than that of Brawl's (which contained many tracks from Melee, mind you). And Melee's gameplay was far too frantic, as Nintendork stated above. And as you yourself mentioned Digiki, Brawl had online. Plus, Sonic was finally present!

But like anything else, it wasn't without its flaws. I found Solid Snake to be an unfitting addition to the roster. And as I said above, the Event Matches were sloppy.

Super Mario Bros. isn't a prototype for the sequels, just like the original isn't to the rest of the series.

But Brawl wasn't an evolution, it lowered the depth of Melee, and added a ton of content. Clones aren't a flaw, and Ganondorf and Falco still aren't far off being clones, nothing wrong with Melee's soundtrack, Brawl's is better although a lot of songs are relegated to lame stages, and will be listened to less. How is Melee too frantic? Sonic is pretty irrelevent, a lot of his moves are pretty similair, and a lot of his moves are near useless due to terrible power to speed ratios.

Snake is unfitting but I have a bigger problem with how dominant he is compared to most of the cast.

first to the brawl discussion:Brawl is a more advanced Melee, with stage builder(which never bores me) and online play... almost forgot the stickers, trophies and the most advanced storylinebrawl and melee are still different, melee was more an advanced SSB, and they made SSBB to advance that even moreeven though i like brawl most, i still keep SSBM and SSB, and will buy SSB on VC once its in europe

i just give 1 great tip: dont compare them, they are still all great

2 things which are most used by me in all 3 versions:1. Kirby2. Zelda stage (even though SSB's is smaller and different)

@ 89. KnucklesSonic8: dream more, maybe it helps you could make all happy

1000 for a game which has only basics of SSBM and SSBB and is smaller and slower... will pay that yea !!!

@Shinnok. That's alright. All I was saying was that you had to enjoy Nintendo's "big three" somewhat, otherwise it wouldn't make sense for you to post on a site dedicated to Nintendo's download service.

OK, the both of you completely missed my point. I was trying to say that Smash Bros. is a type of series whose sequels do little more than improve on the previous game, thus making the last one seem obsolete. If you're nostalgic for the older game(s), you'd still get some enjoyment from them, but those people who play the sequels beforehand would generally prefer them over the original. You see what I'm getting at?

But, with that being said, I'll still put the needed 1000 points down on SSB once it hits shop, just so I can have the entire series on my Wii.

Actually, that's not true Digiki. The Tekken series evolves with each title, rendering the older entries obsolete. That, plus the fact that the entire series sucks, makes it utterly pointless to pick up the previous editions. Super Smash Bros. is the exact same way, which is not to say that Melee isn't fun, it's just inferior now.

"Sequels don't make the older games obsolete, if that was how it went what would the point of the VC be? There wouldn't be much"

Simple: Nostalgia, and people who are curious about the roots of their favorite franchises. Plus, there's plenty of series on VC whose entries are different enough from eachother to be all worth playing (Super Mario Bros. much?).

March 30th 2 or 3 unexpected games for VC Game or Games 294 or 295 followed by another 2 or 3 on April 6th for a total of 296 or 297 Virtual Console Games then add another 2 or 3 for 299 or 300 VC Games if they speed up the VC releases again.

But if we get 1 for the next 8 weeks VC Game 300 could be something else unless Nintendo is making SSB VC Game number 300 and going with a 2 to 3 game Nintendo Download week.

for SSB to be VC Game 300 and for it to come on April 27th we would have to get 1 VC Game Monday March 30th then on April 6th get 2 followed by 2 more 2 VC Game weeks on April 13th and on April 20th and then back to 1 on April 27th.

NINTENDO WOULD BE STUPID, (ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING NINTENDO?!); to not give us Super Smash Bros 64 next week on its 10 year anniversary... & since Japan has had it since January 20th on their anniversary!!! Same goes for Zelda Majora's Mask... if they're holding it for #300; (we just may get it on May 18th with Punch-Out Wii)! That is if they continue with the 1 VC releases they've been torturing us with since who knows God when?!

I mean if Nintendo decided to totally screw with us now, & not give SSB64 to us next week... then there DEFINATELY would be a TON of ANGRY NINTENDO FAN BOYS running amock, & sending a TON of HATE email to Nintendo!!!

Is this for real? Am I in an awful nightmare or what? What is taking them so long? NA didn't get this game for their 10th anniversary. Come on Nintendo, what is the point in letting us wait? Just release it in EU/NA and let's move on, this is getting tiresome. It has been over 3 months now since the game got released in Japan...

@JTCPingas09 & N64 Gamer... or everybody on VCNintendoLife:I still feel everyone's pain!!! I too wish Nintendo would STOP with the crappy 1 VC game weekly releases & just FREAKING GIVE US SSB64 already!!! The month of May had better DAMN FREAKING DELIVER either N64 game; SSB64 or not or Zelda MM instead!!

Sure hope this isn't the only great 64 game to come out at time of release. I can't wait! One of the best first games I ever played. Loved the original. Mele and Brawl have weren't up to my expectations. Long Live Old School Gaming!

trust me this wont come out to middle 2010 as its got (realesed in Japan)anyway na will probably get this before uk and theres games out there that has been relased in japan from 2006 come on nintendo ur startin to suck balls

This game is sure to get massive amounts of sales. Still looking forward to it eagerly. As for when I think it'll appear? Between the end of E3 to September. I really hope they don't save it for #350... But they might...

Yes I know they are taking forever with Super Smash Bros 64!But after Majora's Mask came out I just don't care when SSB64 comes out; Nintendo can take their own sweet time with it!Be it may though; let's not get our hopes up if we see SSB64 as our N64 game of the month of June, or July... if its going to be way latter then there will be hell to pay!

Maybe i should treat the Wii Shop/VC service how i treated E3 2009 and maybe NOA and Reggie would get the picture as to how we are feeling about all of this 2 - 1 - 1 crap that is going on with 2 WiiWare 1 VC and 1 DSIWare Game per week thing.

It worked at E3 2009.I expected E3 2009 to be Flop number 3 for Reggie and Company but they proved me wrong.Maybe they can do the same for the Wii Shop too.

And I still don't understand why NOA is making wait & wait some more for SSB64 in NA?! It's been about 7 & a half months now since Japan has had it; & almost 2 months since Europe has had it!

So if not by August 24; then Nintendo is clearly wanting us to wait until we get more POed & we'll have to wait until September & possibly labor day like we all keep predicting!! Remember our SMRPG situation... so please NOA don't make it just like that & release it September! More like release it NOW!!

And yes we all know; can't people on this stupid NintendoLife site be any more obsessive without not having SSB64?!

I am thinking NoA won't bother releasing this game since America already has Brawl at retail. NoA haven't released SNES Mario's Picross on the Virtual Console presumably because of the DS version. Nintendo are telling you if you want Smash Bros. then get the retail game.

@Bass X0: So they're basically trying to give it's Virtual Console fans the middle finger? That could severely piss off Nintendo of Japan, because they actually cares about the Virtual Console to the point that they will demand NOA to release the game on there Virtual Console.

Just to let them know, I prefer the original to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I see no point in the game not being released.

Let's say Earthbound was released in Japan, Korea, Australia, and Europe after clearing all copyright issues, but NOA refuse. That will prove they don't care.

I just realize something. Maybe Earthbound has to do with the lack of North American Nintendo's Virtual Console release? If not that, then I don't know.

SSB would most likely be released on December 7th or on Christmas day since NOA or Nintendo in general told Gamespot of all people that Super Mario Kart was coming and also added in the fact that Pilotwings and SSB were coming at the end of 2009 as well.December is in like 4 days meaning that November 30th could be anything from Pilotwings to Sonic and Knuckles from Sega.

SSB would be a great early Christmas gift for USA Wii Owners as Super Mario Kart would be a great Christmas Gift to Europe and AU Wii Owners.

We will see what comes out within the next few weeks in these 3 places in due time or suprise announcements as was the SMK Announcement to gamespot from Nintendo.

Now on Gamespot they say the release is Q1 2010, Hopefully there wrong. If not I will be pissed because we should have gotten this months ago. Nintendo could be waiting for the next milestone but as I see it VC is garbage because all Nintendo does is wait until milestones to release any of the big N64 titles.

Got the game and I do say, it's wonderful. Nolgtaslia is rushing back into my memories, plus I finally unlocked all four unlockable characters. Yay, just need that extra stage. Time to get back on that game.

Glad America got this back in December after that long wait when Japan and Europe got it first. I already unlocked everything in this game. I probably got bored with it now. Melee and Brawl has TONS of things to unlock which takes months and months!

This is probably a long story here. But I'll just say anyway. Back in June 2009, when the game was announced for release in Europe on June 12, 2009, at night time, I went to get up and get me some Wii Points with my credit card. Then I finally downloaded the game and enjoyed it. After I got up in morning, I went to see DEIVION212's review video on YouTube. And now months when I come to see this comment section seeing people want this to come to America. But now in December 2009, America has finally got the game.

I'm finally glad the game is on the VC in Japan, Europe and North America. Hopefully if Mario Party 1, 2 and 3 hits VC sometime. Come on Nintendo, just release Mario Party for us!

@EvilSins Ok, sorry, as you already stated I am quite cautious! Thank-you for the kind offer but I have just recieved a working code from another good samaritan. I hope you find someone deserving to give yours too.